Scorched Earth
by Null-Nature
Summary: Rebecca Shepard was counting down the days until she could join the Systems Alliance until one day she found a red card, now she has to search for answers in both the future and the present.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Shepard gets a red card.

'It had been over a year already.'

Rebecca Shepard though as she went through her morning routine to get ready for the day.

Turning off the tap, she took the towel from where it had been resting and dried off her face. Setting it down, onto the cracked top of the sink, a pair of green eyes framed by red hair stared back.

Finishing her morning routine, she exited the bathroom into the low rent apartment she had, fully dressed and ready to go. It was not exactly a nice apartment was what any person would think.

The wallpaper was a little torn off in places, the bathroom was small, and the kitchen consisted of a stove and a small refrigerator with a bed tucked away into a corner with a window and a wooden desk next to it.

In the end it was barely fit for one person. However for its purposes it was sufficient.

Looking around for anything she missed, she simply steps out and locks the door behind her. Nodding a greeting to the neighbor, she exited the building into the bright streets of one of Earth's biggest cities, the metropolis of Vancouver.

With the noise washing over her, she moved out to the local library only a few blocks away

Entering the library the first things seen were the rows of terminals in the center floor, the attendant's desk in the right corner of where she entered, followed by small shelf's of books in the very back with some tables scattered around them.

This early in the morning there were barely any people there, only a few of the terminals in use with even less people at the tables. Nodding to the employee as she passed him, she simply held her omni-tool to the scanner to sign in and moved down to the terminals.

Taking a seat she booted up the terminal with it bringing up the current date of 2171 C.E as it started. Bringing up her omni-tool she looked at the reason why she had to come here in the first place. The red card visible on her wrist.

Ever since she picked it up, it simply wouldn't leave. She tried everything she could think off, from diagnostics to bringing in to a friend's, who was known for their computer skills. Whatever she did however didn't affect the card showing on the screen in any way. In some cases like the friends and the diagnostic tools, it didn't even register as there at all.

The only thing was the red card and a question to register. To register for immigration to PSYREN.

So she went online for any information she could find. Opening up the search engine she typed in Psyren and looked to see what she could find.

And she found nothing in her two hours of searching. During the entire time she had been searching for information she had found nothing of worth.

As time went she looked further and further back for something substantial finally seeing something that could be related to it on a extremely old forum board.

' _Psyren, a society of psychics_ '

Finally seeing something that directly references it, she clicked on it and found the ramblings of a crazy person. The only information worth of note was that of the Elmore foundation offering to pay 50, 000 dollars for any red card that remains unused in the past.

A name that had direct influence with her life. Lost in her thoughts, she barely paid attention as she clicked on the name for more information

Looking back at the screen she looked as the information scrolled down.

" _The Elmore foundation is an organization previously called the Elmore Wood school and acted as an orphanage. It was originally create by a women named Elmore Tenjuin over 150 years ago, a former fortune teller and is a charitable organization today. One of its most recent acts were the relocation and aid of survivors of the Mindoir pirate attack. Since the advent of the discovery of the biotics, the Elmore foundation has helped many biotic children in offering biotic amps and training areas to learn how to control their powers."_

As she got to the bottom of the article she couldn't help but touch her biotic amp, one of the newest versions available, given to her by the foundation.

In the end however, basically no information was given, she couldn't help but think as she leaned back in the chair stretching after an hour of inactivity.

Logging off the terminal, she left the library, signing out along the way. Stepping out into the slightly chilly afternoon, she adjusted her jacket.

'Well I might as well get something done today.'

She reasoned to herself.

Adjusting her omni-tool she removed the PSYREN items from the screen and pulled up her errand list.

Putting the bags down, she turned around and kicked the door back into place and locking it. Bringing the bags over to the small kitchen and setting them on the table, she began to sort and store them.

Finishing up she moved over and sat down onto her chair simply relaxing. Looking over at her omni-tool it was in the early evening but it felt much longer.

Sighing, she put down her omni-tool and put it down only to hear a noise coming from her wrist.

Looking back at it, she could make out the words written in a dark red.

'Will you take the survey to immigrate to Psyren? Answer yes or no.'

Looking at it, she had only one possible answer to figure out her questions.

"Yes."

Hearing a confirmation come from her omni-tool, another question flashed across her screen

'Question 1: Are you a former colonist, yes or no?'

Speaking out loud yes again, it quickly moved onto the next question.

'Question 2: Are you concerned about the future, yes or no?'

"No."

'Question 3: Have you ever suffered a brain injury, yes or no?'

"No."

'Question 4: Are you a biotic, yes or no?'

"Yes."

'Question 5: Do you prefer Earth or the colonies, yes or no?'

And it went on, asking question after question, some seeming completely irrelevant such as chocolate milk compared to regular milk. The questions continued becoming stranger and stranger until finally the question appeared.

'Question 55: You wish for something more and are an orphan from a pirate attack, currently living by yourself, yes or no?'

Frozen, she could only stare at the question and its red text. Blinking she slowly answered.

"Yes."

Undeterred, the screen changed showing one last question.

'Question 56: You would like to go to Psyren, yes or no?'

Looking at questioon and all the information it held of her so far, she slowly spoke.

"No."

'Thank you, the examination is complete, we will contact you regarding the results in a few days' time.'

Dropping her arm down, she felt even more tired than before.

Two days passed since the strange survey, and two days have passed since she got a full night's sleep, wondering about the questions and the meaning of Psyren. Bringing up the card on her omni-tool she simply stared at it. As she did a ringing sound suddenly started in her head.

"What is that?"

She muttered as she looked around for the source.

The ringing started to grow higher and higher as she looked at her omni-tool. The display having changed to a question once again.

'Are you ready to go to Psyren?'

Was all it read. The ringing continued to sound throughout her head.

She forced her way outside as the ringing continued, ignoring the looks of the neighbours.

Looking at her omni-tool, as the ringing became almost unbearable, she simply forced out.

"Yes."

And in doing so took her first steps in a desolate world.

The ringing stopped, and with her eyes took stock of the new world she found herself in.

A dusty sky, clear of clouds but still muddled. Destroyed buildings all around and a sidewalk covered in a thin film of dust. The only noise around was the howling of the wind moving through the buildings.

Looking down, the text on the omni-tool changed once again, only one sentence remained in a dark red text.

'Welcome to Psyren.'

Well lets give this a try. A Mass Effect and Psyren crossover.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Psyren

It took approximately 5 minutes for her to draw a conclusion about Psyren. This conclusion being that Psyren is a horrible place to live.

Not in such kind words but the conditions were truly horrible. The buildings all around were in ruins, the streets cracked and there was no one else around at all.

A little ways off from her starting position, she continued to walk forward, looking for some sort of clue and examining the area around her.

The only noise was the wind moving between the broken buildings which contained no clue on what they might have been.

Exiting another building she had entered looking for clues she continued to move about.

As she continued, she started to hear a noise, something that could be identified as something or someone dragging their feet across the broken surface.

Ducking into another nearby ruin she waited as the source of the noise came closer and closer.

Looking through a hole in the wall, she could only stare as it came closer. Biting back a gasp, she watched the being from her current position.

It's most striking feature were its bright blue eyes located in its head, with its body type most resembling a human male. Wires ran alongside the entire body with the chest region comprising only of them with none of the grey taut skin located across the body everywhere else, blue highlights located regularly, all of it quite clearly showing it as cybernetic.

It continued to shuffle regularly with its mouth wide open, its feet dragging one after another.

'What was that?'

She keep thinking, possibilities in her mind ranging from a cyborg to a half finished machine as she continued in the opposite direction.

After a certain while, she froze, once again hearing a different noise.

The sound of bullets.

Moving quickly she tracked the source of the sound and turned the corner, just in time to see another being with the bright blue eyes fly across the small clearing covered in a blue light she stumbled upon and smash right into a wall.

Following the movement back to the source she could see an asari drop to her knees as a turian stood next to her and used his pistol to shot the being in the head. Turning her attention back, she could see the bright blue light in its eyes dim out, leaving behind only a husk of cybernetics.

Moving her sight and attention back to the pair she walked forward, her steps echoing slightly in the silence left behind.

Catching her in his sight, the turian turned around.

"So, you're also stuck in this Psyren business too?" He asked her, while the asari from before stood up to her feet, the wisps of blue already faded.

Still breathing slightly heavily, the asari only nodded a greeting.

Nodding back she turned back to the turian.

"Yup, got a red card stuck on my omni-tool, weird survey and dark red text. I assume it's the same for both of you."

"Pretty much."

The asari said with the turian also replying back a confirmation.

"But where are my manners, I'm Gairius Ramculus from Palaven if you were wonering and this here is Lelerlia Daqua."

Said the male turian as he stepped forward offering his left hand to shake. Examining him she could see he was dressed in standard blue pants, a black collared shirt and a dark red jacket. A holster could be seen inside the jacket as he moved forward.

Looking up to meet his eyes she took his hand.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Rebecca Shepard. "Stepping back she remarked.

"You don't tend to see a lot of turians on Earth."

Chuckling he replied back.

"Well this isn't exactly Earth right now but I can see your point. The general state of things does look like a city on Earth if completely ruined. I'm just a tourist actually."

Came the reply while raising his arms and gesturing around.

"Hey, don't forget about me. Lelerlia Daqua at your service, but this guy here already mentioned this, didn't he?"

Suddenly throwing her arms around the turian, the asari piped in, clearly recovered. With a sign, Gairius escaped, prompting the asari to stumble forward.

Without losing her smile, she recovered and tilted her head back to meet the pair's eyes and in doing so allowed a complete view of her.

Dressed in a dark green shirt with white highlighs and dark pants, she watched around with a pair of blue eyes and a light blueish skin. Smile still on her face she continued.

"Anyways, expert biotic at your service."

Recalling the scene she walking onto and the state of her, Rebecca couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

Looking at her, Lelerlia began to justify herself.

"Alright, so that might not have been the most graceful throw ever but you two can forgive me right? I never expected to fight cybernetic human zombies. It's like something out of a vid. Besides I'm only 122. That's basically nothing."

"Fair enough, it's like I have any room to talk on improvement. The only things I can do with my biotics is throw."

"A biotic too then? We might as well get to know our capabilities before we start moving out."

Chimed in Gairius.

"As you can see, I'm not a bad shot with this pistol of mine and can also use cryo ammo round as well as cryo blasts. No homing capability I'm afraid." Finishing off, he nodded to the other two. Taking the queue Lelerlia stepped up.

"Well as you can see I have some basic biotics, the general abilities I can do are throw, warp and barrier. No guns as you see." Finishing off with a wide gesture of her arms. With a nod she passed the floor to the red head.

"Well I'm a basic biotic, only knowing how to do a throw for now but with some basic firearm training so we get a gun I can help out there."

"So any idea what we do now?" Stated Gairius. Looking at each other, no one had any answers.

"I can help there, I guess."

A voice suddenly rang out. Spinning around, Gairius tensed before relaxing his grip from the pistol that had been his first reaction.

Following the motion, the source of the voice turned out to be a human, around the age of early twenties the best estimate. Wearing a white collared shirt and tie, he stumbled back before catching himself. His arm rising up to wipe off the sweat from his brow and moving through his brown hair. Looking at his eyes the glasses were simple black rimmed glasses around his black eyes.

"Hey don't shoot. I'm in the same situation as you guys I assume. Psyren and all that."

Relaxing even more Gairius stepped back. In the same motion, Lelerlia stepped up and introduced everyone to the newcomer.

"Well I'm Davis Ducat, a scientist in training, no combat skills to speak of but I do know a bit of first aid." He replied back to the three.

"A medic's always good."

Rebecca said back with a slight smile greeting him.

"By the way do happen to have any idea what that is?" Gairius asked of him, cocking his head in the direction of the cracked wall.

Moving past him, Davis looked in the direction of the wall and paled a bit.

"Nnnnoo, not really."

His voice getting slightly higher pitched before tethering off as he approached. Moving around it, he examined it, eventually touching one of the exposed wires.

"I can't say much without a proper lab so take what I say with a grain of salt." He mentioned to all of them as he continued to kneel down. After hearing a confirmation he continued.

"So from what I can see from the exposed areas, all the wires seem to originate from the circular area where the navel would be located in a human. It seems to be a hole going through the body judging from the appearance of the circle in the front and back compared to each other."

Taking his omni-tool he scanned the grey skin like portion of the body.

"I don't know how but I can confirm that this body has no blood in it, has all its needs meet by cybernetics and definitely used to be human or at least an excellent facade of one."

"So it a cyborg then?"

Rebecca asked from her position behind him. Getting up and dusting himself off he replied back.

"More of an android I would guess, a machine built to look like a human but was never human itself in the first place. I can't imagine any technology that would do this to a person."

Leaning against the wall facing them, Rebecca faced every member of the group.

"Now that the examination is complete does anyone have any ideas what to do?" Looking up from his omni-tool Gairius answered.

"I was wondering about that and while you were busy looking at the body, however disturbing the implications from that are, I took another look at the psyren application and if you look at the psyren app, it's changed. Now it's showing a map and an icon labeled gate as well as my current location. Still no idea where we are however."

Following this, everyone else also drew up the program and examined it.

The map clearly marking the owner's location clearly and true to his words, an icon a little ways off to the north marked gate.

Stepping off the wall, everyone followed suite and prepared to move to the icon, their only clue.

"So how far off do you think this gate is?" Asked Rebecca to the turian walking in front of her.

"From the scale, about two kilometers is the best I can tell. Should get there in around half an hour if we're careful. " He replied back.

"Also watch out for any of those machines. Don't want to know what happens if you get caught by one." He added in over his shoulder.

"I saw one of those a little earlier but how tough are they exactly?" Came the question from Rebecca.

"Well I was the one caught by surprise. Met Gairius a little bit earlier and wasn't paying attention. Only located it after it picked up speed to attack us. I panicked and threw up the strongest throw I could manage. I feel like the results speak for themselves."

Puffing up a little at the end, her grin got a little wider. However that faded slightly as Gairius cut in.

"Indeed, that throw was impressive, it almost matched the results it inflicted on you. How close were you to burning out your amp? Petty close from how you collapsed is what I could tell."

Grin fading even more, she simply began to pout for a little while as they continued on.

"LOOK OUT, GREY SKINNED ANDROID!"

Suddenly yelled out by Davis. Turning in the direction they pointed at, they could just see the reaction of the being as it caught sight of them and sped up. Slowly picking up speed and moving faster and faster, its shambling changing into something resembling a run.

Reacting, Gairius took aim and shot at the zombie. A slight flash being the only result as he hit the exposed metal.

"Rebecca I'm throwing a warp."

Was yelled out before Lelerlia stepped forward.

"It's got friends! Try to catch those ones too." Gairius pitched in, understanding the goal as two more husks joined the last one from the ally.

Confused, she only watched as Lelerlia set up her warp.

"Hurry! Throw a throw at the one Lelerlia targets."

Urged on by Davis, she followed his advice and as Lelerlia launched her warp at the second one, she also drew her arm back and threw her attack.

As the warp connected, the lead body staggered back, pushed even with the other attackers.

All the while in between this, Gairius launched out a cryo blast against the leftmost attacker, freezing them in place.

Throwing her attack, it travelled through the air, connecting and mixing with the remnants of the warp. The end result growing brighter and brighter.

The mixing attacks finally reached a peak in intensity and exploded out in a sphere, ripping the center body to shreds and reaching the left most one, shattering it and reducing the numbers to one.

The final zombie stumbled forward, caught by the last bits of the explosion and was finished off by a shot to the head from Gairius.

"So that was fun."

He remarked as he brought his gun down.

"Also we really need a name for these things. No offense but calling them cybernetic zombies over and over again really isn't fun." Lelerlia stated after him.

"How about husks?" The scientist said. Muttering in confirmation, Rebecca began moving over to the newly named husks, looking at the end result of her work.

"So what was that in the end?"

She asked the rest. Stepping up, Davis answered.

"That was a biotic explosion. It generally occurs when two different biotic fields interact on the surface of a being. This one was triggered by the warp and throw biotic attacks. As it requires something to stick, yours was thrown second and Lelerlia moved first. There are other combinations as well such as a cryo blast and incinerate or cryo blast and some biotic powers, such as throw or warp."

Nodding to Rebecca and Lelerlia respectively at the end.

"Thanks for the info, let's keep moving I guess." The teen said before backing away from the bodies and getting back on track.

Conversation was slow as they kept moving, the last attack putting them all on edge. A few stragglers were found but were quickly put out with surprise attacks.

Keeping watch for any more groups, they soon arrived at their destination. A ruined building that was surely once great but all that remained was a ruin falling apart.

"Well looks like we're here, wherever here is." Came from the mouth of Davis, currently examing his omni-tool.

"So shall we go in and see what our illustrious reward is?"

Gairius stated with a slight grin, everyone else moving in following him.

However that all changed as they walked in. Their mood changing from glee from finally reaching their goal to shock as they saw the details of the building they found.

This is due to the one thing that didn't make sense but existed anyways. Right on the side of the wall, existed the words.

"Systems Alliance Vancouver Base"

A complete mockery. Rebecca Shepard could only stand there as the words imprinted on her mind.

"What is this?"

She muttered in shock, walking closer to the symbol that represented the Alliance and her goal for the future.

"Apparently the Systems Alliance Vancouver base."

She heard from beside her. Spinning around in rage, a snarl marring her face she choked out to the turian as she grabbed him by the jacket.

"This isn't a god damn joke!"

"I know but you need to relax. We need to look for clues."

He said raising his arms. As both of them were preoccupied the other two members continued to examine the room.

Spotting a terminal in the corner Davis examined it. Nodding to himself he hooked up his omni-tool to it and began to interact with it.

"Hey can everyone come over here? I think I got something." He yelled out across the room to its living occupants.

Everyone banding together around him, they watched as he synched up his omn-tool.

"If I did this right, we should get at least some information about this."

Transferring his attention to his omni-tool, the first thing that they noticed was the date.

The date of 2195 C.E 24 years into the future.

"We're in the future….?"

Eyes glazed as Rebecca Shepard stared at the date.

"It seems so." Davis muttered back.

Suddenly shaking his head, Gairius replied back.

"No way that's impossible. There has to be something else other than time travel."

"Well then you can give me an explanation then. The only other thing that would make sense would be that someone created a replica of the Alliance base in Vancouver, destroyed it alongside a replication of the city, programmed the terminal to give the wrong date, created those cybernetic husks outside and managed to transport us here without anyone knowing."

Came the reply, eyes wide as he rushed through his words.

"But it's either that, or someone is transporting random people through time with the only thing in common a random red card on their omni-tool." Gairius continued.

Cutting it off, Lelerlia suddenly remarked.

"Well we can deal with it later, there's a guest."

Everyone sqinging their heads around to see what caught her attention.

Located there a husk appeared, catching sight of them.

Turning around, Gairius started towards it.

"I'll launch a cryo blast, follow up afterwards with a biotic attack, it doesn't matter which."

He yelled over his shoulder a he took aim and launched the bright blue projectile. Following his lead, the two women drew their arms back as they prepared to launch their respective attacks, Davis getting up behind them.

The plans were suddenly derailed by the husks actions however.

As the bright blue blast approached closer and closer, it simply raised its hand and cut through the air towards the projectile. As it made contact, the hand simply continued moving through the blast, redirecting it in another direction entirely, eventually slamming into the entrance wall behind it, the only result being a slight frost on its hand.

Stopping in his tracks Gairius couldn't help but remark.

"Well that's just not fair."

Quickly back tracking he continued to apply the cryo ammo to little effect.

Stepping forward Rebecca and Lelerlia threw back their arms, Lelerlia using a warp with a throw following quickly behind.

Making contact with the moving husk, it was deflected into the ground with the same results, throwing up a small cloud of dust.

Suddenly making contact, the throw connected with chest of the husk, knocking it back. Stumbling it caught itself on its back foot as it looked back.

"Over here!"

Was suddenly yelled out by Davis as they located him by the doors leading further inside now open.

Following him the rest of the group moved forward as the husk began to pick up speed once more. Passing through the doors, both Lelerlia and Rebecca stopped once more to launch two more throws.

One connecting on his arm with the other following it knocked the husk more off balance as they passed through the door, only seeing it recover as the doors closed thanks to the efforts of Davis and Gairius.

"Alright, stand back." Gairius remarked to the rest as they moved behind him. Stepping up he applied omni-gel to the door's gaps, effectively sealing it.

"That should hold for a little while"

He replied as he turned back to face them. As he did suddenly a tremor rocketed throughout the floor.

Facing the door, everyone else could see it shake. As Gaiirius turned around once again, it occurred once more.

*Thunk*

Was the noise, almost unheard due to the tremors.

*Thunk*

The door moved as the impact repeated, almost seeming to bend.

"We should go now! Which way to the gate?"

Rebecca yelled to Davis.

"Down the hall to the left, up the stairs and straight ahead. Judging from the map its a wide open area surrounded by a slightly higher level." He yelled back as everyone started to move. As the noise continued, the roof started to shake raining down bits of dust.

Turning left they moved up the stairs, the heavy noise giving them the security that they were still ahead of the being.

Suddenly the noise stopped with a heavy sound following soon afterwards.

"Guest that they finished breaking down the door."

Lelerlia stated in gasps.

"Less talking more running!"

Was the general reply back. Finally catching sight of the final doors, Rebecca launched a throw to clear the path followed by Lelerlia.

Connecting with the door, it buckled around the point of impact and almost seemed to fold as it was launched out of the way. Running into the room, the first noticeable feature was the open side. Arriving at the edge they could see the true world they found themselves in.

Everywhere they could see they was only ruins with dust swirling around picked up by the wind, a completely destroyed civilization. Hearing a familiar ringing, everyone proceeded to look at their omni-tools.

"Congratulations on finding the gate. Are you ready to go back?"

Was what was written in that dark red text.

Hearing a noise they turned around to see the husk make its way towards them, its speed now much greater as it covered over 5 meters per stride almost seeming to blur.

Bearing down on them, 3 attacks were launched to delay it as the final answer was screamed.

"Yes!"

Striking the husk, it was only stopped for a small moment before it started to move forward once again with no clear damage from the attacks once again. The ringing growing louder in her head, Rebecca Shepard fell forward as her vision went back.

Suddenly pitching forward, she gasped as she looked at where she was. Blank white walls stared back as she took in her own room from her location on her bed.

Looking down on her omni-tool the message having disappeared, leaving behind only a red card on her omni-tool.

"So you survived after all. I guess congratulations are in order."

A male voice suddenly rang out near her.

Spinning her head around she could only catch a blur of motion before feeling a tap on the back of her neck.

Her vision leaving her, the only sounds she could hear were the outside and the low muttering of male as she was picked up.


End file.
